The overzealous, over-event-managed celebration of 2009 — with circuitous, one-way routes, logjam entries and cops with machine guns — was a strange ossification of the spontaneity of 1989, writes Ben Gook from Berlin.
Columns / Letter from...
Aceh Part II: the only Jew in the village
Jakarta may now control their lives but an independent streak still runs through the veins of the Banda Aceh province, with a growing number of writers, discussions of morality and pirated DVDs.
Aceh: the only Jew in the village
This Indonesian province takes its Islam very seriously. The provincial parliament of Aceh recently passed a criminal bylaw that supported the death penalty, stoning and flogging for homosexual acts and adultery.
Brussels, home of Tintin and the EU
Last weekend, Ireland voted “yes” for the Lisbon Treaty, meaning the European Union will be getting a long-overdue structural overhaul. Grant Doyle was in Brussels for the celebrations.
The Phillippines
The recent history of the Philippines reads like a catalogue of Hollywood blockbuster disaster movies. But locals are so focused on day-to-day survival — getting enough food for tomorrow — that the relative unlikelihood of a tsunami makes it not worth considering, writes resident Wayne Smith.
Amsterdam
Owning a bike in Amsterdam is a right of passage, writes Grant Doyle.
Maganda from Uganda: a country in trouble
Uganda has the highest fertility rate in the world, but with over half the population living on less than one US dollar per day, it’s struggling with corruption, poverty and disease.
More reflections from Gaza: Keep off the grass
The American International School in Gaza was bombed on 3 January, completely destroying the institution . Today it is a twisted wreck of concrete, metal and burnt vans.
Gaza: flattened, occupied, sick and rootless
The Gaza Strip, under siege for over three years by Israel and the Western powers, is utterly unlike anywhere I’ve ever visited.
Indonesia heads to the polls
Today Indonesia will head to the polls to directly elect its president, for only the second time ever in history, freelance Australian journalist Ashlee Betteridge reports from Jakarta.
Johannesburg, where fear equals profit
South Africa is a country that has a huge industry based around a culture of fear, writes Australian expat John Downie from Johannesburg.
Burma
As protestors gathered outside the Myanmar embassy in Tokyo on Saturday to call for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a 500-year-old pagoda close to the former capital Yangon collapsed, writes Kyaw Kyaw.
Cambridge, as MP expenses scandal unfolds
Anything less than sleet in a howling gale is considered fine in Pommyland. We have at least been spared that so far. Gavin Moodie pens a postcard from Cambridge.
San Jose, Mexico
People are standing well back from one another when walking, compared to the usual hustle and bustle that we have encountered in the town centre, says traveller Nick Campbell.
Richmond, Virginia, USA
The elitist media and those in Congress and the White House who have been suggesting the rallies were orchestrated and faux-populist events ginned up by partisans and special interest groups are dead wrong, writes Karyn McDermott.
Bali
A Hindu ceremony and archipelago-wide feeling of apathy towards a democratic system had many project a very low voter turn out in Bali over the weekend, writes Morgan Harrington.
Banda Aceh
The morning was eerily silent as people made their way to the polling stations on Thursday, but by afternoon, the city of Banda Aceh was back to business as usual, writes Eleanor Kennedy.
Berlin
On a typically sodden Berlin afternoon in late March, Ben Gook witnessed a protest in Germany’s capital.
